HBO is hosting an APA Visionaries short narrative video contest. The theme is “Taking the Lead.” We will be filming this in early March 2021 in San Francisco, California Chinatown if anyone would like to join our project.
I have written a story about anti-Asian hate crimes, especially senior abuse and attacks in Chinatown, and people coming together from the community to fight back and defend themselves and our elders.
The winners, “will have their theatrical premiere at the 2021 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and will have the opportunity to screen on HBO platforms and stream on HBO via HBO Max.”
All Cinemax originals have moved to HBO Max and all feature length Warner Brothers first-release films will be simultaneously released to streaming on HBO Max through 2021 (due to Covid), so this could be a big distribution opportunity.
I am a writer/director/producer/camera op/sound engineer/editor/actor/martial artist. I have one degree of separation from Ip Man in Wing Chun Kung Fu and I am the in-house filmmaker for American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), the oldest and winningest team, academy, and gym in MMA history and the world.
It’s been hard to budget for this production, since there’s only 3 prizes of $1,000 – 5,000, so I’m treating it like a spec project and assuming that we will win nothing.
It’s extremely hard to get anyone to (reliably!) work for free in film in San Francisco, even pre-Covid times, so I’m trying to limit the scope of my production as much as possible. I’m also, of course, concerned about Covid-compliance when shooting.
I’m casting for Asian actors who can pass for (or are) senior citizens, but worried about how to film them safely. I was thinking the best thing might be to cast for a younger-older Asian actor pair that are already living or in a pod together and can self-shoot some of their scenes at home. If any of you are actors/actresses who live with your talented grandma/grandpa, please get in touch!
This has a total runtime length of 10 – 15 minutes (including credits), so each scene is pretty short. I have tested negative for Covid-19 twice recently and strictly quarantined since then, so I could get tested again and do some of the camera operating myself. I especially can shoot some of the outdoor footage from more than 6 feet away, with a mask on. I own a few gimbals and a couple portable sound recorders.
Looking for:
– Actors (any gender/ethnicity/age) to play concerned neighbors who join together in San Francisco chinatown.
– Senior/Elder Asian Hate Crime Survivor (any gender).
– Asian young person (>18 to play teens – 20’s, any gender. Helpful if you can self-tape your monologues/sides at home.)
– Co-writers and/or Translators. (I already have the outline of the story done, but if anyone wants to help me with bilingual Cantonese-English [or any other Asian languages] dialogue and subtitles, that would be great! For writers, send a work sample, for translators, let us know what your education in/knowledge of that Asian language is).
– FX makeup artist (bruises, fake blood, scabbing. If you feel like doing swelling [prosthetics], that would be cool too. But for the safety of our Asian elder actor, I might be able to teach the younger Asian actor how to do this and eliminate a Covid risk factor).
– Camera Operators/Assistants (San Francisco)
– Sound Recordist (San Francisco)
– Gaff/Grip? (I might even skip this and shoot from batteries with available light, to minimize crew/Covid. Be prepared for that if you offer yourself as Camera or Sound).
– Makeup/Hair? (Also might keep it minimal/naturalistic and ask talent to do their own, but if you’re SF local and Covid-compliant, hollar!)
– Assistant Editor (must have reel/work samples, be proficient in PremierePro CC, Audition, & Photoshop on a Mac. AfterEffects and knowledge of Colorist work is helpful, but not required. You especially need to be available for fast-turnaround work in the second 2 weeks of March.)
– Musicians/Bands/Composers for soundtrack music. (Does not have to be original tracks recorded specifically for the film. Giving us permission to license from your existing catalog works well.)
– Anyone else who would like to help? Let me know what your skills/experience are and a link to your portfolio/reel/work samples if you have them.
– Also accepting donations for production expenses, because there’s no money in making this and the maximum grand prize is only $5,000. Not counting on winning anything. Doing it because it’s an important story that needs to be told.
I was already working on a similar story (from a martial arts, sci-fi perspective), so you can donate through the website for that video series and leave a note to earmark it for our “HBO APA Visionaries” short film. You can contact me through the Contact page on the same website.
Please keep in mind that this is a very short production timeline with no budget or guarantee that we will win anything and consider it a passion project. Thank you!
